When he came down, I asked him how it felt to be hypnotized. Do I even need to tell you what a thrill it is to sit down with Greg Maddux and talk pitching? Obviously, it's more fun when you win. No. He could do anything he wanted with a baseball. The best insights from the ultimate insiders, 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Braves legend taunts Mets after NL East ripped away, Braves next chance to clinch World Series feels so nostalgic: Sherman, What Jacob deGrom is doing right now is stupid: Ex-Mets star, In defense of the blank Hall of Fame ballot, Patrick Kane well worth struggle to bring him to Broadway, The Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast, The Show with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman, Amazin' But True: A NY Mets Baseball Podcast, Gangs All Here: A NY Jets Football Podcast, Kanye West and 'wife' Bianca Censori look surprisingly happy on dinner date, Canadian teacher with size-Z prosthetic breasts placed on paid leave. If we are going to talk about stealing pitches, we do need to talk about the Maddux strike zone. Maddux didnt strike Gwynn out a single time NOT ONCE. Follow AzQuotes on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. Perhaps more, though. Now a member of the Atlanta Braves, Maddux was on the verge of tying a major-league record with his 16th consecutive road victory. He does it with (pause, think, pause) a lot of finesse.. Maddux thought it hit a ghost. Period. I'm just the opposite. Theyre professional athletes and theyre paid to hit.. But I really know how to do this. I never thought I could say this. I recently purchased what I believe to be one of Greg Maddux's rarest card, his 1988 Canon Photocard. The Giants led 4-3 and had the bases loaded with two out. But he's a steal at $28 million. And hes Greg Maddux. Plus, Im beating to the outside part of the plate. Seven of those 19 times, the batter notched a base hit; the other 12 times, the batter made an out. as he peered out to the mound during that fourth-inning at-bat, Don Zimmer had a height disadvantage when he came out to talk to Greg Maddux during Game 1 of the 1989 NLCS. It's an 89 MPH sinker, and you won't even swing at it." -Greg Maddux 290 Baseball Sports 23 comments Add a Comment boredlawyer90 The true GOAT. I want to be back. Period. Maddux was undoubtedly spent. You can be more consistent with your mental approach, the things you do physically on the mound. It came with all the typical notes of such a moment: A crowd. Then the legend of lip-reading spread by word of mouth. Braves Franchise History. His father Dave after a career in the Air Force became a poker dealer and Greg himself is reputedly someone you wouldnt want to see at your poker table. It would be nice to win, too. One medical emergency could have dramatically changed the landscape of baseball in the 1990s. I guess I'll have to get a second job. One year we went to Hawaii. Hed already thrown about 150 pitches, but nobody cared about pitch counts in those days, least of all Maddux. I mean, obviously, this is a big reason I loved the guy, a big reason you loved the guy his entire career overflows with these legendary stories that are particularly his. The baseball world was mourning the passing of one of its most beloved players on Monday, as San Diego Padres legend Tony Gwynn lost his battle with cancer at the age of 54. 3rd inning: Two groundouts and a caught stealing So thanks for that. No, everything Maddux threw was defined by two words: Late movement. There is a legend that, while watching Jos Hernndez batting, Maddux noticed a slight shift in the batting stance. 177 of those were intentional walks, the meme reads. It is, Jim Harbaugh offered a comment recently on the interest he and others have received from NFL teams. The best part of pitching was that you got to hit and, if you got a hit, well, that was the best part. He set the record at the time for largest amount ever awarded in arbitration. Gwynn struck out 434 times in 10,232 plate appearances. And thats when Maddux threw a fastball that sunk just so and prompted Alicea to ground the ball to second baseman Ryne Sandberg. Somewhere along the line, Maddux saw because hes a big studier of the game he had to have seen someone where he could read their lips. He struck out 15 times during the entire 1995 season a year in which he batted .368. I dont have any personal connections to Maddux. Greg Maddux faced 20,421 batters during his career and only 310 saw a 30 count. "I went (to New York) to sign with the Yankees," Maddux said on David Cone's Toeing the Slab podcast. After getting Ozzie Smith to line out and Willie McGee to hit a harmless bouncer to first, though, he allowed a ground-ball single to Tom Brunansky, a line-drive single to Bob Horner and an infield single to Tony Pea. Greg Maddux is indubitably one of the greatest pitchers ever to toe the slab. It would be nice to win, too. -- Greg Maddux, I don't care if we're out of it or not, if I've got a chance to pitch, I want to. -- Greg Maddux, My stuff was all right, but it's not about pitching good. According to Bill Madden of the New York Daily News, the Yankees and then-GM Gene Michael not only made Maddux an offer but also promised him more than the Braves did -- $37.5 million over that same five-year span. Even if this were a harmless accident by the memes creator, that doesnt mean we should just assume something is a fact because we already consider Maddux a great pitcher. All Rights Reserved. During the offseason, hed gone down to pitch in Venezuela and he had worked with pitching coach Dick Pole on a more devastating curveball. Privacy Policy. We usually go to Pebble or Bandon Dunes. Perhaps an alien settlement would have landed on Earth and, after witnessing a Maddux start, have deemed our species as too much of a threat. You tell a legendary story about Ryan and it will involve speed and force. Let me give you a little heads up to all of this stuff, OK? he said. Answer (1 of 14): All good answers so far, so I won't repeat the obvious bits: Defense: Pitcher defense is not one of the first hundred things that comes to mind when most people think about baseball. You just cant do it, Maddux said. Ja Morant had unfortunately timed endorsement announcement, Jim Harbaugh offers comment on receiving interest from NFL, Former Red Sox champion lands with new team. Hundreds of pitchers . He began covering Bay Area sports in 1995, including stints as a beat writer covering the Giants and 49ers. Wet grass is slippery -- Greg Maddux, I don't believe for one second that the eye surgery has helped me on the mound -- Greg Maddux, You're not going to win by automatically going out there. That sometimes its better to be lucky than good? So if hes throwing three lefties in and hes not throwing one lefty in, then whats the deal here? Clark said. But if a pitcher can change speeds, every hitter is helpless, limited by human vision. And I thought Id cut myself short about four inches, so I gave myself a little bit more of the inside corner.. He is the treasurer for the Hemond-Delhi Chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) and also is a USSF and AIA soccer referee. Right: .215/.242/.302. I knew he threw a two seam and a changeup. An interview request to the Hall of Fame media relations department,sheepishly wondering if Maddux might be willing to talk about Clark, was answered quickly and enthusiastically. March 2, 2008. In all, this project will contain roughly as many words as Moby Dick. Yes, we know its nutty. Clark launched the first-pitch heater out to right field for a grand slam, and suddenly the rout was on. What if he hung the changeup? If you look five columns to the left of where I highlighted his total batters faced, youll see he intentionally walked 177 batters over the course of his career. This is second-level stuff, right? What? So, fastball, over the plate, and thats a stolen strike. And among pitchers since 1950 with at least 200 innings, Maddux had four separate seasons where his BB/9 are in the top 15 of all-time. Maddux pulled him aside, as Martin recalled, and suggested the games would go smoother if Martin simply set up on the outside corner and called no pitches. Maddux picking to the Braves on a five-year, $28-million deal crushed the Yankees, who were coming off a 76-86 season that was their fourth losing one in a row. I mean, it wasnt Madduxs fault, hed gotten the groundout. And then the next year, when I come into spring training, its even more of a big story.. Instead of doing 5 good pitches an inning, try to make six. " The key to pitching is to have the ability to throw a strike when they're taking and throw a ball when the hitter is swinging. By the time I became a baseball fan in the early 2000s, he was older and less effective. Wet grass is slippery, I don't believe for one second that the eye surgery has helped me on the mound, You're not going to win by automatically going out there. SPONSORED. 1. Instead, the meme couldve read Greg Maddux faced 20,421 batters during his career. Clearly, things worked out fine for the Yankees, who won four championships during Madduxs 11-year tenure with the Braves. What is it that pitching coaches always say? There is no special food or anything like that, I just try to make quality pitches and try to be prepared each time I go out there., What has benefited me the most is learning I can't control what happens outside of my pitching.. Period. It could very well be only 153, it could actually be 173, but it wasnt 177. I used to circle his start dates on my calendar; I never did that for another pitcher, not even Pedro Martnez in his prime, not even Dwight Gooden in 1985, not even Max Scherzer when he was throwing near no-hitters and perfect games every other start. The righthander was discussing how changing speeds and having control are far more important than velocity, because no hitter can tell the exact speed of a pitch. And he didnt come in that at-bat. Stealing strikes. (Some versions say 133 instead of 310 and leave out intentional walks.) There is a legend that in 2006, his Dodgers teammate Brad Penny, who was coming off a game where he got badly roughed up by the Mets, asked Maddux if he would call the pitches for him from the dugout the next time out. Theres a legend that once when he was with the Cubs, Maddux just started screaming at Atlantas David Justice for no apparent reason. It came in the fourth inning of Game 1 of the NLCS under the lights at Wrigley Field on Oct. 4, 1989. OK, lets get to the legends. Note: Portions of this series were adapted from previous work that originated on my personal blog. In this installment of Baseball Mythbusters, we will look at Greg Maddux and the 30 count. There's only one surprise: Greg Maddux, who won three Cy Young Awards and reached the postseason 10 times as a member of the Atlanta Braves, will not go into the Hall as an Atlanta Brave. It would be nice to win, too., I don't care if we're out of it or not, if I've got a chance to pitch, I want to., My stuff was all right, but it's not about pitching good. 5th inning: Three groundouts 22, someone really ought to deliver a speech while shielding their face with a baseball glove. Maddux is standing on the mound and Zimmer has his back to me, Clark recalled. The best pitchers have a short term memory and a bullet proof confidence. In the last month and half of the season, batters hit .347 against Maddux, he walked 19 batters in 27 1/3 innings and the Cubs lost all seven games he appeared in. Lets take a deep breath and dive into some key moments in this evolution of baseball protocol. Analysts continually said his fastball topped out at 84 or 85 mph, for instance. In '92, scout Chuck Koney gave his fastball a '7' on the 2-8 scouting scale, which means that his fastball was sitting around 95 mph. To hear Maddux tell it now, though, he was on his way to being a Yankee before signing with Atlanta: Greg Maddux had every intention to sign with the Yankees in 1992, but he says he never received a contract offer because one of the Yankee front office members had a heart attack(via @ToeingTheSlab) pic.twitter.com/fz6qo05A8J. He said that he felt relaxed and at ease and strangely confident, but that he didnt feel compelled to do any of the things the hypnotist asked. The Yankees had offered the right-hander $6 million more, with then-general manager Gene Michael saying, "He's the best one out there. That's what you do to pitch. On August 26, 1995, Greg Maddux was at Wrigley Field in Chicago, formerly his home stadium. And Maddux throws me a 3-2 changeup and I sort of hooked it out to right-center for a homer. I pitched just good enough to lose. -- Greg Maddux, I take golf trips with my brother or with friends. 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